City art gallery acquires home-grown original

[dutchman]

The Herbert Art Gallery has purchased an original painting by home-grown artist George Shaw, who is short-listed for this year’s Turner Prize.


£22,862

George, who grew up in the Tile Hill area of the city, is holding a major exhibition of his work at the gallery from Thursday until next March.

But senior curator Martin Roberts has already put up the new acquistion after buying it for the permanent collection with the support of the V & A Purchase Grant Fund as well as the Art Fund.

Mr Roberts said: “Our picture is called Scenes from the Passion: Wednesday Week. It is a classic example of Shaw’s work and talent that has been the reason behind his increasing importance as a contemporary artist.

“The piece depicts an ordinary scene of a walled area within a residential estate, but the enclosed space and uncertainty of what is beyond the doorway gives it a more sinister edge.”

George Shaw himself explains: “The title is from a song by The Undertones. I found something in it that chimed with my own sense of sad resignation and the placing of loss within the day to day passing of time.”

The Herbert is at Jordan Well in Coventry. For further details, call 024 7683 2386.